Thousands of people marched on Sept. 10 in Santiago, Chile to commemorate the Sept. 11, 1973 coup in which Gen. Augusto Pinochet Ugarte overthrew the democratically elected government of Socialist president Salvador Allende Gossens. The march led from the center of the capital along the Alameda Bernardo O'Higgins to the Santiago General Cemetery to remember the victims of the coup and the subsequent 17 years of brutal military dictatorship.

As the march passed the government palace, La Moneda, hooded individuals threw a molotov bomb and several paint bombs at the building. The police responded with water cannons and tear gas, but the rest of the march was allowed to continue on to the cemetery. According to the march organizers, the hooded individuals were from an anarchist group identified by the letters CRA. The group apparently also attacked a fast-food restaurant, a bank branch and several bus stops. At the end of the march, the hooded individuals apparently threw rocks and molotov bombs at police, who again used tear gas and water cannons against them. Police sources said three agents were hurt, one seriously; some 30 people were reportedly detained.

"The immense majority demonstrated peacefully and those who committed acts of violence, that's their responsibility, and besides we don't know clearly where they come from, whether they are provocations or minority sectors," said Communist Party president Guillermo Tellier. (24 Horas, Chile, Sept. 10)

From Weekly News Update on the Americas, Sept. 10

See also WW4 REPORT #92.

See our last post on Chile.